SOAR365, formerly Greater Richmond ARC, announces week-and day- long summer camp programs for children and adults with disabilities at its 22-acre wooded facility at Camp Baker in southern Chesterfield County near Pocahontas State Park.
SOAR 365 will offer eight adult weeks and two children’s’ weeks this summer beginning Sunday, June 16, and ending Friday, August 23.
Matt Hulcher, SOAR365’s director of summer camp, noted, “This is the first season we’ve added a tenth week to our summer camp schedule. We already have 415 adults and 65 children enrolled, but we continue to get calls daily. We have the capacity to enroll 600 summer campers.”
The fun activities planned for the 2019 season include: paddle boating and fishing at Pocahontas State Park; swimming; tent camping; nature classes; music (including Karaoke); indoor and outdoor games; face painting; and a new horseback riding program at a nearby farm.
In addition, SOAR365 @ Camp Baker will have a chicken coop and bunny hutch with two chickens and two bunnies this summer. The camp will also offer a new camp store, where summer campers and families can purchase clothing and souvenirs to remember their camp experience.
To learn more about SOAR365’s summer camp and how to enroll, please visit www.SOAR365.org/summer-camp.
New multi-purpose building nearing completion
SOAR365, the not-for-profit that operates year-round programs at its Camp Baker location, anticipates completing the construction of a 10,000 square-foot, multi-purpose programming building in October 2019.
The M.H. “Bud” Reinhart Center will provide opportunities for recreation and training to better meet the needs of SOAR365’s physically and medically fragile clients currently enrolled in its year-round Youth and Children Program, Adult Programs, and Respite Program, in addition to Summer Camp.
The architect for the project is HBA Architecture and Interior Design and the general contractor is Hourigan.
“Physical activity and exercise are critical for our clients,” said John Walker, SOAR 365’s President & CEO, explaining that the new building’s largest programming space is a 3,226 square-foot multipurpose fitness and recreation space and a training kitchen.
In addition, many people who need ARC’s services have complex disabilities. “They are more sensitive to weather conditions that include hot and cold, or rain and snow,” and the new building provides crucial climate-controlled space, said Walker.
Two additional 900-square foot classrooms in the new building will allow the organization to eliminate a waiting list for its year-round Children and Youth and Adult Day Support programs.
The multi-purpose building, identified as a key need in SOAR365’s strategic planning process that began in 2016, will also have a training kitchen to hold cooking classes, where key life skills such as the preparation of food and clean-up can be taught.
“We are grateful to M.H. “Bud” Reinhart, the Judith Haskell Brewer Fund of the Community Foundation serving a greater Richmond and other community partners who are helping to make this all-important building a reality,” Walker concluded.
The Reinhart family, which is a long-time supporter of SOAR365, “is honored to help SOAR365 provide these resources for services that enrich the education and quality of life of its citizens.”
About SOAR365
Founded in 1954 by families for families, SOAR365 provides a wide variety of services and programs in central Virginia for individuals with disabilities ranging in age from infancy to adulthood who are coping with daily “real world” challenges. Nearly half of the organization’s workforce has a disability. When someone comes through our doors, we work hard to understand their needs, desires, dreams and goals, and to find ways to provide these individuals and their families with the services and programs that work best for them. For more information, please call (804) 358-1874 or visit SOAR365.org